I found the article selling a model of the Kennedy’s Assassination car very offensive.
What’s next? World Trade Center falling down? Southern Church on fire?
I think Model Railroader can no longer claim that it is the magazine that model railroaders trust
I don’t have access to the article in question so I have to ask for more info. Does the model in question have a replica of Kennedy in the back seat showing all the gore? If no figure, does the car have blood stains or other such graphic material? What made it offensive to you? Do you also find if offensive that you can go to any book store and purchase books about that tragic day? Did you boycott or even complain to Ford (owner of Lincoln motors) for continuing to sell Lincoln Continentals after Nov. 22, 1963?
It’s called history. The real limo is on display somewhere in Michigan. Are you going to go and picket the place demanding they remove the vehicle? There are also scale models of Nazi military equipment for sale at many LHS’s. Not to mention models of the Titanic and other vehicles that have seen their share of tragedy. So where do you draw the line? Get over yourself.
Hello All,
What the OP is referring to is a listing in the August, 2015, issue of MR under the News & Products section of a replica of the Kennedy Presidential limousine on page 11.
This item is also listed with other replica cars from the same manufacturer.
In my personal opinion this is just as offensive as the ad on page 7 of the same issue.
As has been discussed, Ad dollars trump personal likes and dislikes.
Hope this helps.
This is really a stretch. The car was used for presidents from 1961 to 1978 - long after the assaination.
Plus a lot of people liked JFK and collect memorabilia about him.
I find nothing offensive about the ad or the product.
Paul
+1
The ad says nothing about it being an “assassination” car. All it says is that it is a model of Kennedy’s 1961 Lincoln Continental X-100, and is shown with other Ford products on both sides of the 1961 year.
So, +2
Did you react with this level of disgust and outrage when MR printed an article about Jimmy Carter’s “plain old Plains station” back in (I think) August, 1977? The way some people reacted to that issue, you’d think they’d printed something truly awful, not just an article and drawings of a structure.
The bottom line is this: If you don’t want to buy something, don’t buy it – but don’t act like some sort of moral arbiter for everyone based upon your personal outrage.
As with others, I had looked at the ad and thought nothing offensive whatsoever. What caught my eye in the ad was the 49 Merc and the 65 Mustang. Kid two houses away from me had a Merc that he drove and also ran at the local drag strip. The year Mustang was the first new car I owned. Not a favorite as the transmission ate gears, the suspension ate tires and the engine ate exhaust valves.
Jim
I mentioned this model back in April 2015, in the “Another Thing to gripe about” thread concerning the sizes of HO scale vehicle.
The Oxford Diecast on-line catalog entry for this vehicle (page 11) clearly states “the 1961 produced vehicle in which J F Kennedy was assassinated on 22nd November 1963”. When I listed the new Oxford vehicles to be introduced in that thread, I specifically put a “oh man” and a “face-palm” smilie after that entry because I knew at some point to come somebody would be offended…and as usual, I was completely right.
Oh well…
Other car manufacturers in the past always makes the Lincoln Continental X-100. This is probably the first time in HO.
I remember a long time ago they had the Kennedy’s sitting in the back seat.
This is not offensive. What is offensive is making a replica Bewitched convertible car being green instead of blue.
You know what they sell a lot of in the NASA gift shops? STS-51-L and STS-107 mission patches.
People like to commemorate tragedies. Always have, probably always will.
And have a bonus fascination with assassinations.
No offence taken here, either.
Balance and perspective. As others have mentioned, this automobile is a part of the fabric that is our history and heritage. We can choose to ingnore it but it will not go away.
I have visited Henry Ford Museum and looked the display over several times. I’ve also been to Arlington, Gettysburg, Ford’s Theater and the Alamo Mission among other reminders of tragedies.
Offensive? I think not. President Johnson didn’t seem to have any superstisions about the car since he used it throughout his time in Office.
Walthers offers various Amtrak passenger cars. On very rare and unfortunate circumstances, people have lost their lives in these very same cars through no fault of their own. Should they be pulled off the market because seeing a model of one may offend someone who might have been affected by such a tragedy?
As a modeler I would probably get a copy of the X-100 limousine. I’m hoping to find a Ferdinand Magellan Presidential railroad car someday and I’ll need a way to get the POTUS to and from his train.
Happy Modeling, Ed
I’m going to have a Raspberry cheese danish with My tea!
Take Care! [:D]
Frank
I love the smell of thread locks in the morning.
Just that:
+1
I agree with the others above who saw absolutely nothing wrong with the add(s).
Happy modeling!
Don
See buildings on layouts on fire lots of times.
Look at how many people flock to Ford’s Theater in DC where you can see where Lincoln was shot, the chair he was in, the suit he was wearing, etc. Assassinations fascinate. Not offended at all by the model of the car. One could even use it to model a sort of memorial to the man in the same light as Ford’s Theater.